Online meat service startup Licious gets $10 million in funding

BENGALURU: Online meat service startup Licious has secured $10 million in Series-B funding from a clutch of investors including existing backer Mayfield India and Mohandas Pai's 3one4 Capital.

The company will use the funds for expansion in other cities like Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR region and introduction of gourmet meats. The other investors in this round were Russian fund Sistema Asia and Korea-based Neoplux Technology Fund. "We already ha ve a tuna meat spread and meat pickles, so that is an area we will continue to build upon by offering more in-ho use-created meat pro ducts like butter chick en spread, besides ex panding to other cities in India," said Vivek Gupta, cofounder of Licious.

According to Gupta, funds will also be used for technological upgradation at the frontend and backend. For instance, improvement in end-user experience as well as increasing supply chain-side efficiency.

"Since it's a farm-to-fork model, we have to focus on breeding of the meat at the farmer level to ensuring that demand on the consumer side is met," Gupta said. In terms of backend technological upgradations, real-time tracking of meat from the farm to the end user will be one feature that is introduced. The platform, which is active in Bengaluru, has up to 60,000 customers.